Sunday, November 13, 2011

UNEP Campaign Reaches Twelve Billion Trees

The Billion Tree Campaign, a reforestation effort organized in 2007 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), has announced that more than twelve billion trees have now been planted under the program. The goal of the campaign is to plant one billion trees worldwide each year. All UN member states have participated in the program, with China in the lead with 2.8 billion trees planted and India second with 2.1 billion. The Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by the late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai and her Green Belt Movement, and carbon sequestration is identified as one of its key objectives. The campaign does not organize tree plantings directly, rather it tracks, coordinates, and publicizes numerous planting schemes across the globe.